absolubtely. You can't have an entirely alien narrative, because reading it will feel like a slog. Thats exactly why people say that reading lotr or especially

absolubtely. You can't have an entirely alien narrative, because reading it will feel like a slog. Thats exactly why people say that reading lotr or especially the silmarillion is a heavy read - all the digressions about poetry or ancient history are difficult to get through. You have to swing between worldbuilding and the familliar (often characters with familliar motivations experiencing the world)